Four bodies found in Johns Creek apartment

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. -- Four people were found dead in a Johns Creek apartment on Monday afternoon.

Authorities said the incident was a murder-suicide involving a mother, father and their two sons, ages 5 and 12.

Police Chief Ed Densmore said it was too early to determine which member of the family committed the murders.

The Fulton County Medical Examiner will determine the cause of the deaths. Chief Densmore said no one in the neighborhood heard shots fired but investigators weren't ruling out shooting.

The city of Johns Creek has had a police department for only five years and has never had a single murder. These are the city's first three. "It's pretty bad as you can imagine any time you deal with this," Chief Densmore said. "When it involves kids, it's a little bit heart-wrenching."

It is unclear when the incident occurred, but Densmore said it probably happened sometime Monday.

Officers received a welfare check request at around 11:30 a.m. to respond to the family's home in the gated Aylesbury Farms apartment complex along Abbotts Bridge Road. When they arrived, officers found the four bodies in the first floor unit.

Identities of the victims will be released as soon as police notify next of kin.

Neighbor Joseph Olander said the victims were a kind and generous family. "They seemed to be a very loving couple and with two small boys seemed like a very normal family," he said.